tdnv 


ISCHIUM      I 


Conf  Pam  #415 


MESSAGE  OF  THE   PRESIDENT. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.  17,   1863. 
To  the.  House  of  Representatives  : 

Jn  partial  response  to  your  resolution  of  the  1  Ith  instant,  I  here- 
with transmit  a  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War  covering 
a  list  of  exempts  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia. 

Further  information  on  this  sul  ject  will  be  communicated  when 
received. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


COMMUNICATION   FROM  SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 


Confederate  States  of  America,  } 

War  Department,      \ 

Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.  17,  1863.  ) 

His  Excellency  The  President  : 

Sir  :  In  response  to  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, adopted  on  the  11th  instant,  I  have  the  honor  to  trans- 
mit a  report  from  Colonel  J.  S.  Preston,  Chief  of  the  Conscript 
Bureau,  of  "the  number  of  exempts  in  the  Confederate  States,  the 
States  in  which  they  reside,  and  the  reasons  for  the  exemption  from 
military  service." 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON, 

Secretary  of  War. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2010  with  funding  from 
Duke  University  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/communicationfro29conf 


C.  S.  A.,  War  Department,  } 

Bureau  of  Conscription,  \ 

Richmond,  Va.,  Dec.  16,  1863.      ) 

Hon.  James  A.   Seddon,  Secretary  of  War  : 

Sir:  The  following  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  has 
been  referred  to  this  bureau  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  President  be  respectfully  requested  to  commu- 
nicate to  this  House  the  number  of  exempts  in  the  Confederate  States, 
the  States  in  which  they  reside,  and  the  reason  for  exemption  from 
military  service." 

In  reply,  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  that  the  number  of  exempts, 

by  operation  of  law  and  other  reasons,  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  North 

Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  the  four  States  under  charge 

of  this  bureau  is  sixty-four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty,  viz.  : 

Virginia,  20,372 

North  Carolina,  22,807 

South  Carolina.  5,814 

Georgia,  15,837 


Total,  64,830 

The  specific  causes  are  set  forth  in  the  paper  herewith  transmitted, 
marked  "exemptions." 

This  statement  will  be  found  in  the  report  I  had  the  honor  to  sub- 
mit to  you  on  the  6th  instant. 

The  number  of  substitutes  is  partly  conjectural.  The  actual  num- 
ber may  be  furnished  from  the  Adjutant  and  inspector  General's 
Department. 

I  may  repeat  my  conviction  that  20,000  or  25,000  substitutes  have 
been  put  in  the  army,  and  that  there  are,  perhaps,  over  ten  thousand 
fraudulent  substitute  papers  held  by  parties  not  in  the  service. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  S.  PRESTON, 
Colonel  and  Superintendent, 


ftf    Virginia, 
'  i       iria. 


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